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admdelta

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Posts posted by admdelta

  1. On 12/23/2023 at 10:30 AM, Danger41 said:

    If you decide to not go the CSO route, give a serious look into Cyber Ops. Hugely impactful career field and will set you up very well for post-AF career.

    Might definitely look into that since I found out that I’m getting explicitly recommended not to be reclassed into a rated job as it turns out. So that’s an extra gut punch for me since I was getting excited about that, but cyber sounds pretty sweet from what everyone’s saying. 

  2. 11 hours ago, Standby said:

    Any option to go WSO/CSO? I have a couple of buddies who didn’t make it through UPT but made it as CSO/WSO. 

    I think it's still on the table and it'll be my next choice as long as the pipeline isn't still backed up. Last I heard rumor was it was taking people over a year to get in there, so hopefully that's cleared up.

  3. 9 hours ago, Blue said:

    People fall somewhere in between these extremes, but it sounds like you're much closer to the latter bucket.  All that work and pain to get to UPT is a double-edged sword though.  Clearly you want it and are ambitious, but it also means that you're putting all of that weight on you every time you go fly.  It's a lot of pressure, pressure that the student fresh out of school may not have to deal with.  I know the solution is to "brush aside all of the anxiety," etc, but that's obviously much easier said than done.  I don't know the solution here, but the first step is to recognize the source of the anxiety.

    Thank you for saying this because this is 100% how I've felt every time but have never been able to quite put my finger on it. I'm definitely mentioning this in my letter, and if I'm lucky enough to be kept around, finding a way to fix ti.

     

    9 hours ago, Blue said:

    One O-6 Air Base Wing CC who was respected, well liked, and seemed to be good at his job.  At his retirement ceremony when he talked about his career, he briefly mentioned that he "Started his career with six months in pilot training.  Unfortunately, pilot training is a 12 month course."  He smiled and moved on with his speech.

    Love this story, and really appreciate your comment. 

    • Upvote 1
  4. 1 hour ago, Danger41 said:

    So first thing I’ll say is great on you for being honest with yourself that alot of your problems seem to stem from poor preparation and/or study habits. More on that later…

     

    For the near rocks of getting through this ride, it should be the relatively simple pre-solo stuff that requires very little improvisation and athleticism to fly well. Everything you do should be under the “control and performance” concept where you set a known pitch and power setting and get a known result. If you’re not getting exactly what you’d expect from that setting, then make small corrections from that instead of just guessing the correction. 
     

    This definitely applies in the pattern and will help control any wild deviations. Whenever you pull closed, pull the same amount nose up, the same bank angle, the same pull to displace you appropriately every time. When you get to that known spot, you make adjustments based on wind for when/where to perch etc. Also, by doing that very rote maneuvering, it will gain you a few seconds of SA to actually assess and get you caught back up to the airplane. 
     

    A truck I learned back in the day from the F-15 community was “left hand, right hand, sight picture, feel”. It applies to everything and I personally like it because it breaks things down very cleanly and will set you up for success. Try drawing out the pattern or wherever you feel jammed up and apply that mnemonic. Even your GPS thing, look back at that scenario and think what you could’ve done with left hand (power setting), right hand (probably bank back towards the center of the MOA), sight picture (level turn away from a border now eyes go to GPS to push buttons in a sequence),  fee (1G unacclerated turn). Once you’re done setting up, what’s next on your lineup card? Same deal to set up for TP stalls or whatever. 
     

    Lots of words there but the last thing I’ll tell you is that worrying about all your sacrifice and hard work won’t do shit to help you on this ride. “Fighting in the air is not a sport. It is scientific murder” said Eddie Rickenbacker. The airplane couldn’t care less about your personal life. Compartmentalization is massive in this business and learn to leave all that behind you and focus on your left hand, right hand, sight picture, feel. Good luck!

     

    I should have written my original post more clearly (just edited it) but I already had the 89. It was unusually bad and I hooked the absolute hell out of it. 

    That said, if I pull out a miracle and survive the CR I'll need to fly another one and I'm definitely taking this advice. Thanks for taking the time to lay that all out.

  5. Hopefully this is the right section of the forum for this. I'm at UPT right now and I'll just say things have been incredibly rough lately. I was doing pretty alright for the first few rides, but after that the cracks started to emerge in my GK and I found myself falling behind. A hook or two later I ended up on CAP and whipped myself into shape. I started going to the cognitive specialists every other day to assess and fix my study habits and work on in-flight stress management, I started studying harder and better, simming a lot more on my own time, chair flying better and more, having regular GK sessions with my IPs etc. Things were starting to really look up until my end of block flight to clear me for solo. 

    During that flight I made the silly decision to get distracted by my GPS and lost SA at a really stupid time. The rest of the flight had some errors, but was decent, however that was an instant hook and I knew it right away. Despite the outcome of the flight over all, the flight commander (my IP for the flight) actually mentioned on the gradesheet how much of an improvement he'd seen since putting me on CAP. Nonetheless, this triggered an 88.

    The 88 ride was also fairly decent for the most part. There were some issues that would have made for debrief items with a fair if it weren't for the fact that suddenly I forgot how to land. I couldn't get them set up and kept going around, and a couple the IP had to go around for me because I judged poorly that I could land them. I had a very nice landing at the end of the flight and hoped it would save me, but it did not. Ride hooked, onto the 89.

    My 89 flight with the commander was probably my worst since my dollar ride. A week of accumulated stress and anxiety finally took its toll and I simply could not perform. I was screwing things up that I've never had issues with before and it was just an overall disaster.

    I'm now staring down a CR next week or possibly after the winter break and I'm absolutely gutted. I worked my butt off through 5 years of rejection, battling age limits, and a whole load of other obstacles to get to this point and watching it all slip away because of a series of small but ultimately stupid mistakes spread out over multiple rides is more painful than I can describe, especially after the effort I've put in lately to get my ass back in shape over the last 4 weeks. I was dealt a few unlucky hands here as well but I recognize that ultimately I'm to blame. The best day of my life was when I got the call saying I was going to be a pilot. My worst day was yesterday. 

    Sorry for the long sad post, ultimately I guess I just want to vent a bit but also ask for advice. Has anyone been in this situation and survived the CR, or seen someone else do it? Is there anything I can do to help my odds? I know my chances are incredibly slim this early in the syllabus and with a less than stellar gradebook, but I'm willing to do anything and throw whatever hail Mary necessary to keep this dream alive. I gave up my home, a 7 year long career, love, and much more to get to where I am today. If I lose this too, how do I stay positive in the face of what feels like a massive failure and a waste of my potential and half a decade of work? 

  6. 2 hours ago, GreenArc said:

    Would anybody happen to have any details on the Cheyenne C-130 open house this weekend they could share/PM me? This weekend is a bit crazy for the fam and I on the prior obligations front, but I'm trying to get specifics on timing so I can try and move some things around/cancel some stuff and try to swing this as I'd love to get out there (but also want to be sure I can swing it before reaching out to RSVP).

    Thank you so much in advance to anyone who may be able to help!

    I know it’s scheduled for 10 am Friday but that’s all I’ve got at the moment. The POC’s number is posted on their Bogidope page though and he’s been pretty responsive!

    • Thanks 1
  7. 6 minutes ago, weekdaypilot said:


    If you don’t mind me asking how did you apply to them? They didn’t post any hiring announcement for a while?

    I actually cold called them like a year ago and got their information for their board then, but then it ended up getting canceled due to COVID. Then they emailed me out of the blue a couple weeks ago asking if I still wanted to interview. 

    • Like 1
  8. 19 minutes ago, julietecho13 said:

    I wish that's how it worked! Essentially I was told that applying at 26/27 (interview was just after my birthday) that it didn't show dedication, and I should've been applying 3 or 4 years ago.

    Ok now that’s just a bunch of trash. After all those years enlisted with them they thought you weren’t dedicated??

    Best of luck with Vermont, I hope you get it so you can stick it to them. 😉

    • Upvote 1
  9. 55 minutes ago, precontact said:

    I disagree. AC should have hired you as a homegrown applicant. Doesn't send a good message if they don't hire their own, especially with great scores, unit experience, etc. Did they explain why they turned you down?

    My home unit turned me down after an interview too. It definitely sucks (like it feels really bad on a super personal level), but at the end of the day I don’t think I was owed anything. Being home grown definitely helps in landing the interview, but once you’re in front of the board everyone is equal and you have to convince them you’re the best. 

    • Upvote 1
  10. 2 minutes ago, NABO said:

    Was wondering if this applied only to Reserve units or ANG units as well. Additionally I thought unsponsored candidates only ever go to heavy units so could we assume this clause doesn't apply to fighter units?

    Unsponsored is an AFRC thing, so it only applies to the Reserves. Also from what I’ve heard it’s hypothetically possible for an unsponsored candidate to go to a fighter unit, it’s just rare. 

  11. 42 minutes ago, Checksix said:

    Apologize for the silly question but how would the Air National Guard be activated in this type of situation? I have heard of it in emergency response distributing food and water, etc. However when it is more of a dangerous threat would the pilots or others in the base be trained in this type of response? 
     

    Thanks!

    Depending on the type of unit, the pilots will be involved in airlifting, logistics, etc. Probably not the boots on the ground though. Enlisted people and non-rated officers can be on the ground but more as a second string if the Army isn’t enough to handle it. 

    Source: was part of the response to the civil unrest in June and was trained in riot control. 

    • Upvote 1
  12. 2 hours ago, c130rob said:

    I am starting the process of attaining LORs and I have a couple questions.

    First of all, I am wondering if these will be good people to get letters from. I have already asked each of them and they are all willing to write me an LOR

    1. LOR from my sister's boyfriend (probably will have that part left out) who is an active duty HH-60 pilot (0-4)

    2. LOR from a former professor who flew KC-135s

    3. LOR from my former CFI who is an aircraft maintenance officer (O-5)

    I could also get a letter from my former boss (I worked for a CPA). Or, I could get a letter from another CFI who knows me much better than my CFI in #3.

    My other question is how I should have these letters addressed. Since I plan on applying to multiple units, should I have them write the letters in a way that is general enough for all units? Also, I have seen a lot of units require that the letter is addressed to the CC. How should I go about this?

    I would say all of those are good options, and I would suggest getting one from all 5 of the people you listed for three reasons. 1) You may encounter a board that requires more than three, 2) to give you added versatility depending on who you’re applying, and 3) one or more of the letters may not be l as good as you’d hoped. I know I’ve had high hopes for some that turned out to just not be very good. 

    I also agree with Checksix, the best thing to do is honestly to just edit the PDFs to change who they’re addressed to if a unit asks for them to be addressed specifically, cuz if not you’re gonna be bugging the hell out of all those letter writers and often. 

    • Upvote 2
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